It Began With A Class
by SoundlessSong
Summary: Response to AnimationNut's Challenge #5.  Jack and Maddie teach a class at Casper High about ghosts.  All is well, until they bring Blood Blossoms along for the ride... who could have expected the chain of events a simple class could set off?
1. A Day In The Life

**I don't own Danny Phantom.**

**This is a challenge response to AnimationNut's Challenge #5. This was the stipulation: **

**'-Danny's parents go to Casper High to teach a lesson on ghosts and bring blood blossoms as an example (Those flower things that painfully affect ghosts).**

Rules: You can reveal his secret if you want. You don't have to. You can just make everyone extremely suspicious. Sam or Tucker will have to find a way to get rid of the blossoms, since Danny will be in excruciating pain and won't be able to move and all. You can even have a ghost attack if you want :)-'

**I think it sounds like fun. It was originally gonna be a oneshot, but the outline... sprouted. :P We'll see where it goes. I have at least four chapters planned out already, possibly more.**

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><p>Danny yawned lazily, seating himself at the table with a bowl and spoon as Jazz spooned up her cereal from behind some thick psychology book with a title that he couldn't be bothered to make out at the moment. For once, he'd had a good night's sleep; no ghosts had turned up in the night, and he was rather comfortably rested this morning. He gazed absently at the patterns of sunlight on the wall from the kitchen window, wondering idly what he, Sam, and Tucker would find to do with the day. Perhaps the ghosts would stay away today, too...<p>

_Yeah, and maybe Vlad will turn up and say he's no longer interested in marrying Mom or converting me and he wants to be friends with Dad, _he thought sarcastically. He snorted, then pushed it out of his head, pouring cereal and milk. With enough rest to keep from falling asleep, he had every intention of doing well in school today... maybe he could bring his grades up a bit.

Jack charged through the kitchen from the family room, storming down the steps to the lab like a freight train. A number of crashing noises commenced, before traveling up the stairs and back to the family room on top of an orange hazmat blur. Twice more the big man passed, and Maddie came in to help. Jazz stared. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing?"

Maddie poked her head around the corner. "Your school asked us to do a class on ghosts!" she exclaimed proudly. "We'll be using our own classroom for the next couple of weeks, and everyone will get a chance to hear what we have to say. Now there won't be so much confusion on the subject of ghosts!"

Jazz and Danny exchanged glances. Uh oh. "Are you bringing along any ghost weapons?" Danny asked cautiously.

"Oh, we'll have a few in case a ghost attacks," Jack brushed the question off breezily.

"We won't be handing any to the class, don't you worry... don't want a student shooting someone by accident!" Maddie smiled.

Danny looked relieved. "Okay then." A pause, then he grinned. "I can't wait."

Jazz stole a quizzical look at him. "Danny?" she mouthed.

"Most of their theories are way off the mark," he mouthed back. "I want to see what ones they choose to air and how they present them... it's sure to be entertaining."

"A bit sad, too," Jazz observed dryly, in a bare whisper. "The 'ghost experts' of Amity Park..."

"Well, as far as they know..."

"Why have they never actually checked to see if their theories are true, once the portal opened?" she wondered quietly.

"Dunno. Maybe we can post it a question in class?"

"If you reword it... don't insinuate that you think their theories are false, or anything... it wouldn't end well."

"Yeah."

They cut off their whispered conversation as the clock ticked on, rising to put bowls and spoons in the sink. Danny raced for the door; Jazz followed at a more sedate pace. "Have a good day at school! Don't be late for the ghost class!" Jack called after them happily.

"We won't!" Danny grinned, and swung the door open.

"Don't forget the flowers!" Maddie called to Jack. "We need to incorporate some kind of history into the class... it adds background and credibility..."

"Fenton Family's first proof of ghosts, of course!" Jack's reply was excited and proud. The door swung shut, cutting off any reply Maddie might have made to that.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. "'Don't forget the flowers'? That seems odd."

"Fenton Family's first proof of ghosts? That'll be interesting," Danny mused.

They grinned at each other, before separating to go to school their own ways.

At school, Danny met Sam and Tucker outside the doors and told them about the new class as they went to get their books. "They're bringing ghost weapons, but only in case a ghost attacks, they won't actually use them for the class... so it shouldn't be a problem," he finished.

Tucker clicked away at his PDA for a moment. "When do you think the class will be?"

"Look at the schedule." Sam stopped at the bulletin board. Pinned prominently in the center was a piece of paper labeled 'Ghostly Basics: A Class on the History and Characteristics of Ghosts, taught by Jack and Maddie Fenton'. Below was a list of students and the times they were to get to class. "We have last period today in the ghost class. Just the one class, too..."

"Yeah, just one class for everyone," Danny agreed. "They'll be teaching the class for a few days, just till everyone at Casper High gets cycled through it."

"Hopefully their tenure as teachers won't be too eventful," she observed.

Tucker grinned. "C'mon, Sam, they aren't bringing ghostly weapons to use on the class. What could possibly go wrong?"

Danny frowned. The phrase 'famous last words' was floating through his head as the bell rang and they separated for their first classes.

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><p><strong>First chapter gone! Only a set-up for now... the class will be the next chapter. <strong>

**I don't hold much stock in Jack and Maddie's ghostly theories... they've never gone in the Ghost Zone, they've never TALKED to a ghost, and there's only so much you can learn from fighting them. Danny (plus Sam, Tucker, and to a lesser extent Jazz), who has spoken to ghosts in the Ghost Zone and understands a lot more of how ghostly society works, would understand that most if not all their theories hold no water. I daresay it would be amusing to listen to just how off the mark his parents are, especially since no one else knows it to laugh at them. **


	2. A Blast From The Past

**I don't own DP.**

**Thank you for the reviews! They're nice to read :) Hellbreaker, I noticed that part of the episode too... it's a bit sad, honestly, how easily Maddie – genius inventor extraordinaire, Maddie – missed something as simple as that. How can people be so blind?**

**...Don't answer that.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter! NOTE: Spoiler warning for Infinite Realms!  
><strong>

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><p>The day passed mostly uneventfully. The Box Ghost showed up twice, once halfway through biology and once during lunch, but the ghost was so easy to defeat that Danny didn't even miss much biology. When final period came around, he was in a very good mood; he'd actually understood most of the material and had high hopes for the homework now tucked in his locker.<p>

He met Sam and Tucker in front of the classroom, exchanging glances with them as Tucker pushed the door open to enter. They all hastened to the back of the classroom, eager to remain as far out of the limelight as possible. _Don't want to be too front-and-center when we start laughing, _Danny thought amusedly. If the theories were as silly as he remembered, they'd probably be doing a lot of that.

Sam seemed to echo the sentiment. "Remember to keep from laughing out loud!" she reminded them, a faintly humorous note in her voice.

"No worries." Tucker pretended to cough. "Mr and Mrs Fenton, I have whooping cough, that's why it sounds like I'm laughing... don't mind my _terrible _timing..."

The other two laughed. Sam slid into her seat and propped her elbows on the desk. "I'm not sure whooping cough is the right excuse there... does it really make you sound like you're laughing?"

"Dunno. The name sounds good, though... and do you have a better idea?"

"Not really."

Danny grinned and leaned back in his chair. He'd gotten the desk in the corner of the classroom, as near to the door as he could get and still be in the back row. Sam sat immediately in front of him, and Tucker on his left. Their classmates filed into the room and settled around them, sitting in groups with their respective friends. Dash and Kwan sat near the front, along with Paulina and Star; Mikey and Nathan were a bit further back, and Valerie seated herself dead center in the front row. _Figures she'd be especially interested in this class..._

They sat up straighter as Maddie and Jack entered the room with all the energy born of excitement. "Good afternoon, class!" Jack exclaimed breezily.

"Hello," Maddie said simply.

Most of the class was sitting back, eyes half-narrowed. Everyone knew the Fentons were crackpots... even if they'd been proved right about the existence of ghosts. Only a few – Valerie, Paulina – looked especially eager. Paulina was all but bouncing up and down, holding up a small picture of Phantom (Sam scowled) to her face.

As the class commenced, the great majority of students were talking and passing notes; but as it went on, the atmosphere changed. More and more people turned to the front as Danny's parents pulled out various theories and weapons. "This," Jack boomed, pulling out a lipstick, "is a very handy little weapon."

It also looked absolutely ridiculous in the big man's hand. A tiny little green lipstick... Dash sniggered. "What's it do... horrify the ghosts away with its girliness?"

"No," Maddie interjected. "It shoots a beam." She took the lipstick out of Jack's hand and shot it at a target she'd brought along for demonstration purposes.

Dash very nearly jumped out of his skin at the resulting explosion, much larger than would seem possible to come from the tiny object. "O...oh."

Danny grinned.

"This weapon," Maddie continued, "is especially useful to carry in the purse as an undercover weapon... if you're ever out shopping, or otherwise caught without a weapon, you can simply pull out your lipstick and shoot the ghost while it's unaware that you have a weapon. Quite a handy feature."

"What about if you don't _use _lipstick?" drawled Dash, exchanging conspiratorial looks with Kwan.

Jack whipped out a pencil. "The Jack-O'Nine Tails is a man's best friend for those pesky attacks at inconvenient times! Just point"- he pointed it at the target - "shoot" - he pressed the button - "and presto, instant ghost tangle!"

"Or _self _tangle," Kwan snickered. Jack, with his usual bad aim, hadn't pointed the pencil properly... the grasping arms all draped over Jack's head and shoulders, his face a comically dismayed centerpiece.

"Moving on," Jack grumbled, somewhat hastily, untangling himself. He moved to the desk again and pulled out a folder, opening it almost reverently. "I am about to show you the very first proof the Fenton Family ever had of the existence of ghosts. The triumph of our ancestors."

Silence. Paulina scowled, flicking her hair back. "You haven't said anything about Phantom yet," she observed petulantly.

Jack ignored her. "In the late sixteen-hundreds, my esteemed ancestor of the time, Jon Fenton, lived in Salem. The witch trials were going on."

Danny's eyes widened, then narrowed, and he exchanged glances with Tucker. Sam turned around to look at him, wide-eyed. _This can _not _be what I think it is..._

"One day during practices, when the local witch-burners were practicing their record set-up time, a strange girl appeared. She was dressed in odd, dark clothing that was outrageous for the time... it left her arms and midriff bare, and showed off her legs. This undoubtedly exhibited her allegiance to the Devil."

Sam's face turned pink, and she faced front, dropping her head into her arms. Danny groaned quietly, nearly as embarrassed. _It is... how on _earth _am I gonna get them to realize we were time traveling and didn't belong in that time..._

"She ran forward, yelling, trying to tell the villagers to 'get a life'. It is unknown to this day what she meant by that; perhaps she wanted them to kill someone." Jack looked very serious. Tucker choked and hid his sudden laughter in the crook of his elbow.

"Remind me to stay invisible the next time we go time traveling," Danny murmured to Sam, who tried valiantly to hide her amusement at his words.

"Fifteen minutes of history," she observed. "A paradox."

Tucker's head was buried in his arms, shoulders shaking. He looked up at the other two, and there were tears of laughter in his eyes as he struggled to control his amusement. "I... a ha ha! I wonder if you STARTED your parents' obsession, Danny?"

Danny threw up his arms slightly in exasperated despair. It _would _be true, wouldn't it?

"As she finished her satanic command, she stepped forth onto the Fenton Anti-Witch Net, the precursor to modern ghost weapons, and was trapped above the town, struggling. The villagers, angry and horrified at the presence of the witch in their midst, dragged her forth and tied her to a post in the middle of town, ready to be burned." Jack hadn't noticed a thing.

Dash let forth an exaggerated yawn. Maddie silenced him with a look. "Patience. The ghostly part's getting here. In fact, it has to do with Phantom."

The whole class sat up straight, minus a certain trio. Valerie and Paulina leaned forward, radically different expressions on their faces. Silence fell. Danny hid an embarrassed sigh. _I'm _really _glad they don't know it was me. _

"They were about to burn the girl, but suddenly, from nowhere, a creature flew to her rescue. It was in the form of a boy, glowing with an eerie light, with deathly white hair and poisonous green eyes." Maddie took up the story, giving them all a significant look. "It had on strange, form-fitting black clothing with points of white to draw the eyes... very unusual for the time, just like the girl."

"Phantom," Valerie growled. "Devil."

"But... like, weren't the witches later proved to be innocent?" Paulina piped up. "Phantom was just saving people, same as always!"

The ghost hunters all seemed to turn suddenly hard of hearing, but the trio had to smile. _Thanks, Paulina. _

Danny realized something and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil hurriedly. **Wonder why they didn't remember the insignia and make it a symbol of all things terrible and ghostly? **he wrote. Quickly he duplicated the message, crumpling the papers up small and tossing them carefully to Tucker and Sam.

Both read the message quickly and turned amused looks on him before writing responses. Sam's arrived first. **Perhaps they didn't see it? He was going pretty fast and even when the flowers were burning him he was curled up enough it might not have been seen. **She made sure no one was named, just in case their notes were intercepted. At least the 'going too fast' and 'flowers burning him' parts could be explained away with an overactive imagination.

Danny shrugged at her and mouthed _ 'Maybe.' _It made sense, though it was sort of funny.

Tucker threw over a note as well. **It got lost to history?**

_Somehow I doubt that, honestly, _Danny thought with a sigh, _what with the Fenton family's obsession... they even remember my _eye color_... _but it was as good a theory as any. He tilted his head in a half-shrug.

Meanwhile, Jack had gone on. "The pale specter flew forward, intending to save his dark mistress from her doom. My honorable ancestor was on the scene, and sprang to stop it."

_It. Niiice, Dad. _

Dark mistress? Sam wanted to die. Her face felt like a fireball.

"He ringed the pyre in Blood Blossoms, a kind of flower that holds a deadly poison to ghosts. It's perfectly safe for humans, in fact it has good snack value. The only way to shut off the flower's effect is to eat it!" Jack stated happily.

Tucker shuddered at the memory.

Maddie was pulling out a bag from behind the desk. She finished the story as she wrestled with it, shuffling around inside with her hand. "The ghost hit the shield the blossoms created and bounced back. A brave, unnamed man stepped forward and threw the ghost inside the ring, and it thrashed around, screaming as though it knew it were being destroyed..." Gasps sounded from the class. "But before it could be eradicated, a strange boy with dark skin and a shiny metal object in his hand ran from beyond the circle of villagers and ate all the flowers. Freed, the ghost sprang upwards, seized both witch and boy, and flew away. Now that we know witches aren't real, we now believe that he was controlling the two for some unknown reason." Several people cheered, Paulina among them, while Valerie folded her arms and scowled.

Danny made a mock-scary face at Tucker and they both laughed silently.

Maddie began making rounds of the desks, placing something on each desk. "And thus the Fenton Family Occupation was born," she concluded merrily. "Phantom is a ghost that is at least 300 years old, and may have a grudge against the Fenton family for our near-destruction if him back in Salem. This is probably why he showed up here, after being in Salem 300 years ago." As she finished speaking, she approached Sam's desk. Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Sam leaned forward, trying to see what Maddie was doing, and whipped around to look at Danny, face going pale. 'Blood Blossoms,' she mouthed, horrified.

Danny's face went white, and Tucker's eyes widened. _Oh no._

The innocent-looking little red blossoms were placed on the desks in front of them. One blossom to each desk. He pushed himself back as far as he could in his seat, already feeling the tendrils of poisonous energy brushing at his skin, tingling and burning like a spray of liquid nitrogen. _How can I get out of this? _Dimly, he was aware of his dad drawing something on the board... a diagram of a Blood Blossom. Apparently they were trying to illustrate what, exactly, made the flowers so dangerous to ghosts... hey, the specter deflector and ghost shield were based off blood blossom properties? He hadn't known that... strange, the things you pick up in dire situations...

Try as he might to keep from agitating the flower, the proximity of his ectoplasmic side triggered the flower's defense mechanism. The red energy released itself, going on to trigger the other flowers scattered through the room. Slowly, the classroom began to fill with a pale red light, leaving a bloody cast over the scene. Danny's hands clenched his seat, body going rigid, jaw locking, as pain ripped through his body.

Sam snatched the flower off his desk, swallowing it in one gulp and following it with her own. Tucker threw his at her in great haste, and she finished it off too. They both stared at Danny, pale-faced, hoping that would help... but just like in Salem, the other flowers didn't stop. _What could they do?_

As if that wasn't enough, Maddie chose that moment to be observant. "Sam, I know we said they're edible, but they're critically endangered now: we don't want them to go extinct! Don't eat any more of them, please."

Sam whipped around to stare at her, face white and terrified, like a trapped animal. Maddie frowned.

Danny's body was trembling, curling up now. His muscles were contracting out of his control, and he fell against his desk, shaking violently. Maddie finally noticed. "Danny!"

The whole classroom turned to look, and eyes widened. Both Fenton parents hurried to Danny's desk. "Danny! What's wrong?"

He couldn't answer. If he tried, he'd scream... and if _that _wouldn't be a giveaway, he didn't know what would. Stubbornly, he bit his lip, and tasted blood. The class gathered round him, abandoning their desks.

Sam rocketed to her feet and set at top speed to each desk, snatching the blossoms and gulping them down. Tucker helped her gather them, though with a look he conveyed his unwillingness to actually _eat _them. Before long, all the flowers were gone, and Danny finally relaxed, sighing in incredible relief. The deadly energy faded, and the red cast to the room vanished.

The class stared in confusion for a long moment, but then Star looked around. "Hey, goth-girl ate all the flowers!" she exclaimed. "They're all gone!"

Maddie furrowed her brow, seeing the inevitable connection between Danny's strange episode and the Blood Blossoms. "Why did the flowers affect you, Danny?" she whispered, slowly, in something like horror. Jack was silent beside her, and the class stood round as the boy rolled to his feet, waiting.

The trio exchanged fearful glances. This wasn't good.

Wasn't good at all.

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><p><strong>All satanic Doom and Gloom pieces are just things I relate to the Salem Witch Trials and in no way reflect my own beliefs :P Also, Tucker's appearance would have been very odd to them back then, I think... both in clothing and in the fact that slavery was still very much a problem back then. I daresay he would have garnered quite a bit of attention.<strong>

**I didn't put much of their theories into the chapter... it was getting long already, and I didn't want to get too in-depth into the whole thing. If you prefer, I can add one-shots in a separate story at some point to explain the views I take in the Danny Phantom universe (and use in all my stories in the fandom), in contrast to what the Fenton parents claim.**

**This chapter seems somehow... cumbersome. I'm not sure how to change that. Help? :S**


	3. A Time And A Place

**I don't own DP. Hey, is it really necessary to say this _every single chapter? _I'm sure we all got the point a long time ago.**

**I suppose my biggest issue with putting the theories in the chapter is that I'd want to explain them, too: why they're wrong and what's so funny about the misconception. My problem with _that _is that they're MY ideas about why they're wrong: absolutely no support from anything in Danny Phantom canon. Sorta like an OC hypothesis? Haha. **

**Still, I see where you're coming from, BrandyMyDog. Detail is nice. I'll add in the ideas at some point... either by editing Chapter 2 or by trickling them in gradually over chapters.**

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><p>Silence. No one seemed to want to speak first. Danny stole looks at his parents, then at Sam and Tucker, looking down again quickly. "I... uh..."<p>

"I thought the blossoms were only supposed to affect ghosts?" Valerie said slowly.

"Yeah... about that..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck. _Think, Fenton, think! Come on..._

Sam saved him. "Er... Danny's been around enough ectoplasm from ghost attacks on the school and from exploding inventions at home that some of it must've affected him a little so he's more susceptible to ghostly poisons." She flipped a hand lightly, trying to pass it off, but her voice was strained.

Jack frowned. "Inventions explode on me a lot more, and I don't have that problem," he stated bluntly.

"You have a haz-mat suit. Danny doesn't," Tucker made up feebly.

For a terrible moment they thought someone would ask something else, roll their eyes, do something they couldn't explain away; but Maddie nodded slowly. "I suppose that makes sense."

Jack grinned, instantly convinced. "Great! You'll need to wear a haz-mat suit then, Danny," he informed his son genially.

Danny groaned in horror, nevertheless internally grateful for the distraction. His classmates were snickering at the idea, allowing it to distract them from the whole thing. The more distracted they would stay, the better. "Daaad..."

"It's a good idea, Danny," Maddie admonished.

_It won't be conspicuous at _all, _I'm sure, _Danny thought desperately._ All they'd have to do is reverse the colors... it's obvious enough as it is... "_Can't you make a bracelet or something, like a Specter Deflector, that keeps all ectoplasm from contaminating you?" he burst out, not censoring his words. As soon as he'd said them, he wanted to take it back, but it was too late.

Jack snapped his fingers. "That's a great idea!"

Maddie backed him up. "Of course! We'll get right to work this afternoon!"

Danny, Sam, and Tucker stared at each other in barely masked horror as the two Fentons returned, high spirits restored, to the front of the classroom. _Great. Blood Blossoms solved... unknown invention with incredibly bad effects coming up. _

Sam glanced around, then slipped a paper onto Danny's desk, before moving back to her own. Slowly, he unfolded the paper behind his desk. **They're all suspicious. Valerie keeps giving you sidelong glances. Keep your head down!**

He crumpled the paper and shoved it deep into his pocket. His parents had started talking again, continuing their lecture on the effects of Blood Blossoms, though they didn't pull out any more flowers. Most of the class wasn't paying attention, though; staring as they were at Danny.

Dropping his head onto his arms, he allowed his aching body to relax. All the extra energy from this morning had fled with the last vestiges of blood-blossom energy, and he wanted nothing more than to get away and sleep for awhile.

Valerie propped her head on her hand, staring with eyebrows furrowed at the black-haired boy's pale, drawn face. _I didn't know humans could absorb ectoplasm, _she thought. _To the point that weapons could hurt us, register us as ghosts... shouldn't the weapons drive the ectoplasm out? It shouldn't affect the human body... Well, I'm certainly no expert. It can't be possible to be partly ectoplasmic. The Fentons have been doing this for years... they know what they're doing. _

A little trickle of thought interfered with her self-reassurance. _What if some of the more intelligent ghosts we fight were once human, and had simply absorbed too much ectoplasm, destroying their humanity and life, and lost their minds to the evil ghost energy?_ The idea was too terrible to consider for long; she pushed it away. _Wouldn't the pain only happen if the ectoplasm were a _part _of him? Not just if it were inside him... but it's impossible to be truly part-ectoplasmic, that would mean you're part-dead... aah, don't think about it; ghosts are bad, humans are good, there is no relation between them. _She put the matter out of her mind. _Still. I'd best watch Danny more closely. I get blasted a lot by ghosts, and if that means I might absorb the ectoplasm, I need to find a way to guard against it... I don't want the same problem. I wonder if the Fentons would be willing to give me a bracelet too?_

The class finally ended. Danny pulled enough energy from his limbs to get to his feet and rush to the door ahead of the class, just behind Sam. Tucker was right next to him. They got to the lockers before anyone else; Danny phased his homework free before continuing out of the school, where Sam and Tucker caught up within a minute. They disappeared around the corner of the school, finding a nice quiet place to talk and rest out of sight.

It was quiet for a long moment. Danny sighed, running his hands across his face. "I never wanna go time traveling again."

Tucker laughed weakly. "It does seem to cause a lot of trouble. Three _hundred _years old? I mean, c'mon..."

Sam's lips tightened ruefully. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Though I do hope we don't end up hearing about the ninja-ghost in the history of China, or the strange flying kid in the Coliseum who fought Vladdius Caesar, or something."

They all winced. "What're we gonna do about the bracelet?" Danny asked hopelessly. "I wasn't thinking when I said it..."

"I know," Sam sighed. "I don't suppose you know what the bracelet would do to you, exactly?"

"Not without having the invention itself... but I said 'keeps all ectoplasm from contaminating you'... so if they go by that, it'll tear me apart," he replied grimly.

"Wouldn't it just split you in two, like with the Ghost Catcher?" Tucker asked hopefully.

"No, the Ghost Catcher does it more cleanly," Danny answered wearily. "It didn't exactly split me in half; it just sorta pulled my body and personality into two separate places, like some weird form of duplication. Something that is simply meant to 'drive out all ectoplasm' would tear me apart at the genetic level... much more slowly, and much more permanently."

Sam winced. "Sounds painful."

"I bet it will be," he muttered darkly.

"Don't talk like that. We can reprogram it or something once your parents give it to you," Tucker suggested.

"I will have to wear it for at least a few minutes though, they'll want to see me put it on."

"Oh." He frowned. "Still... I can unlock and reprogram it anyway, so long as you can handle a few minutes of it..."

"We'll have to go with that, I guess," Danny nodded wearily, internally hoping with all his might that his words wouldn't come back to bite him. "Thanks, Tuck."

"Just don't say anything _else _like that," was the reply, in an attempt at humor.

"I'll do my best."

A voice called from the front of the school. "Danny! Where are you?" Maddie sounded concerned.

Sam smiled weakly. "Time to face the music..."

Danny took a moment to steel himself, then crawled slowly to his feet, walking around the corner as slowly as he dared. The other two flanked him, almost like bodyguards; Sam even looked the part, glaring at everyone nearby like an angry hawk.

They'd half expected Maddie to question him further on the incident, but somewhat to their surprise she didn't mention anything. "Come on, we'll drive you home, Danny," she said calmly, putting her hand on his shoulders to steer him toward the Fenton RV. Sam and Tucker turned to follow, but she shook her head. "You two can come by later."

Okay, maybe she _was _going to mention something, but didn't want to say it around his friends. Danny swallowed hard and smiled weakly at the other two, trying to push his apprehension back into a small knot in his gut. From their expressions, he wasn't too successful. "See...see you later, guys," he muttered.

They murmured responses, watching as he was herded into the RV. Jack was in the driver's seat; as soon as they were seated he revved the engine and drove out of the parking place. They sat silently for a long moment, the only sound the screeching of the tires and indignant yells from those nearly mowed down by the road hazard that was Jack Fenton's driving.

Danny looked from one to the other, waiting for them to say something. "Mom?" His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. "Mom? Dad? Where's Jazz?" She wasn't being driven home alongside them, and his mind leaped toward unpleasant possibilities as paranoia began taking over his senses.

"She had to drive her own car home," Maddie replied. "Otherwise we'd have had to come back for it later." Her voice, reassuringly, was calm: not frightened, angry, or otherwise unusual like he'd been half expecting. She turned back to smile at him, and it was a genuine smile, just like always. The knot in his gut loosened a little. Maybe it really was nothing.

Jack decided to speak up now. "We just want to get you home so we can measure you up for a new invention," he boomed happily. "You'll be wearing it a lot, so we want to make sure it's something you can keep around without getting in the way too much."

Despite knowing what the invention would likely do to him, Danny felt the clenching pain in his gut ease almost completely with this. The whole world took on a slightly cheerier aspect. They'd be all right.

_...Now I just have to survive the measuring, _he thought dryly, as they pulled up with a jerk to the curb in front of the house, and Jack picked him up by the scruff of the neck and dragged him into the building excitedly.

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><p><strong>Well, there was one of my ideas... the Ghost Catcher effect versus New Invention effect. What do you think? It never made much sense to me that Danny would be 'split in two' so easily... we are all 'wholes' for a reason, and it's not just because his personality was completely out of whack; we can't survive as half a being. I don't think humans can be 'cut in half' so easily, and half-ghost or not, he was fused completely with the ectoplasm, so he wouldn't be either. Thus, he must not have truly been 'split in half'. The Ghost Gauntlets would have the same effect.<strong>


	4. A Shot In The Dark

**I don't own DP.**

** fan reader: I believe the blossoms' effect is caused by a chemical reaction inside them, activated by ectoplasm. When the blossom is chewed, it's broken open, so when swallowed, the stomach acid can instantly reach the offending chemical and serves to instantly neutralize it. Or that's how I rationalize it, anyway :)**

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><p>Danny leaned back as far as he could. <em>Why didn't I think things through... <em>He just managed to avoid the beam as it shot over his head, hitting a panel on the other side of the lab and sinking into it like water into a sponge. Jack was in front of him, singing some song about ghosts as he tinkered with the invention that had shot the beam.

Maddie, beside him, pulled him back into a sitting position. "Now, Danny, stay still. We don't want it to be inaccurate," she admonished breezily.

_Correction: _you _don't want it to be inaccurate, _he thought, flinching as another beam shot past his cheek. A tingle ran down his spine at the near miss, and he shivered, imagining what the beam might have done if it had hit him. It didn't hurt human-world objects, but they'd tested it on ectoplasm in front of him... it had basically vaporized the stuff.

"Jack, how's the invention coming?" Maddie called.

The big man's hands held a tiny object, a little circlet about a half inch wide and maybe a millimeter thick, curving round into a slightly misshapen circle. Danny had wondered, at first, why they hadn't made it perfectly circular; nobody had answered his question, but as he'd watched, he realized they wanted it to fit his arm exactly... and of course his arm wasn't perfectly circular. "It's done!" Jack boomed, holding it up proudly.

Maddie took it out of his hands. "Excellent!" she murmured, before looking at it more closely. Jack was known for cutting corners, and she didn't want any malfunctioning invention to hurt her baby.

A door slammed above them, footsteps echoing in rapid succession toward the door to the lab. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker were finally here. Jazz appeared in the doorway first, hopping the last few steps and hastening over to stand beside Danny, looking worriedly into his eyes. "Are you all right?" she murmured urgently.

"So far," he replied in an undertone as Sam and Tucker came up behind him.

"Jazz drove us here," Tucker whispered.

"Sorry we took so long," Sam grumbled. She sounded incensed. "Lancer decided he wanted to detain Jazz for some reason."

Danny smiled. "No worries." Just their presence was enough to make him feel much more confident.

"Hello, Sam, Tucker, Jazz," Maddie greeted, putting a last piece onto the invention. "Jack? The bracelet shouldn't have been shooting beams... it's supposed to diffuse the energy through Danny's body in order to drive out the ectoplasm, not concentrate it to shoot intermittently..."

"I knew that." Jack frowned. He'd forgotten that they were making the bracelet for Danny to wear, caught up in the excitement of a new invention.

The Fenton matriarch held up the bracelet proudly. It gleamed in the artificial light of the lab, tinted green from the many glowing green samples of ectoplasm scattered here and there in beakers. In Danny's eyes, it looked downright sinister. Beside him, Tucker swallowed hard, clutching his PDA tightly.

"Here you are, Danny," Maddie caroled, turning to him and holding out the bracelet. She waited, smiling.

With a jolt, he realized he was supposed to take it. Frantically he thought back to the entire building process. It hadn't taken long... and he was pretty sure he could understand how to build it again. He'd watched carefully, hoping that he'd be able to tell Tucker something about it. _There's a strip on the __inside of the bracelet... the part that'll touch my arm. It's made out of some special material... that's the part that shot the beam. It was covered over on the outside with something more decorative, ordinary metal. So it should be safe to touch... the outside. _Gingerly, as though picking up a very large, venomous insect, he took the bracelet, careful to only touch the outside part. One eye was shut, waiting for pain to rip through him... but as nothing happened, he opened it again, a frisson of relief shooting through him. He held the bracelet in one hand, holding it a bit to his left so Tucker could get a good look at it.

A low curse slid from between Tucker's clenched teeth, too low for his parents to hear. Danny jolted and glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. "It wasn't _programmed," _Tucker filled them in under his breath, watching as Maddie turned away to push a few tools back into boxes. "I can't unlock it with my PDA. I...it might be hard to get off. How does it latch?"

"A key," Danny murmured, voice very quiet. "The key IS programmed, I think. It puts out a certain frequency to switch the bracelet locked and unlocked."

Jazz edged toward the table, looking around for the key, then froze as Maddie turned around. "Put it on, Danny," the woman ordered mildly. "It won't do any good just sitting in your hand like that."

Danny gulped and turned the bracelet over in his hand, stalling for time. Jack reached over toward a pile of metal and brought a key out, turning to him. "I'll latch it on, so no filthy ghosts will take it off you," he proclaimed in satisfaction.

"Wh...what does it _do, _exactly?" Danny managed to get out. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and he swiped at it, trying to be inconspicuous.

Maddie caught the gesture and correctly interpreted it. "I've tested this invention several times, dear. It won't hurt you. In fact, it should drive out all the ectoplasm in you, so none of the others will target you anymore, either," she told him, trying to be comforting. "Just put it on and you'll see what I mean, okay?"

"How fast does it work?" Her attempt to reassure him was nice, but wildly off the mark. If only she knew.

"It should take a few hours. First it has to reconfigure itself to your body and identify the ectoplasm in it. Then it will begin to push out the ectoplasm, a process that will take a few hours just to keep it from being too traumatic for you. By tomorrow you'll be completely ectoplasm-free!"

He swallowed. _Okay, so it shouldn't start ripping me apart as soon as I put it on. _He turned the bracelet over, opening the band so he could get his wrist inside, and as slowly as he dared, he put it over his wrist. Holding his breath, he clicked it shut; Jack jumped forward and locked it.

Danny was only peripherally aware as Jack went to put the key on a ring in his pocket. As soon as the inside of the bracelet had touched his skin, a sharp, dangerous tingle had come from it; like something was burning him. For now, it remained isolated to the skin of his wrist; but he could feel the energy waiting, processing and moving. It wouldn't be long before it began its deadly purpose. _I have to get this thing off. Like... now._

He looked up at the other three, then looked to his parents. Both of them were smiling proudly. "What do you think, Danny-boy?" Jack boomed.

"It... it's great, Dad, thanks," Danny managed to get out. "How long do I have to wear it?"

"Until it drives the ectoplasm out of you. Then we'll take it off, and you'll only have to wear it when you're leaving the house," Maddie explained.

Jazz winced. "Uh... Mom? Can I have a key, so I can remove it in case you aren't around?" she suggested hopefully.

"No, Jazz. It won't hurt him to wear it, and I don't want any more keys that we have to have," Maddie shook her head. "The more keys we have, the more possibility there is for one to get into the hands of a ghost."

Jazz's lips tightened. "Yeah..." she couldn't seem to find anything else to say.

Danny shuddered suddenly. The bracelet had let loose a wave of energy, shuddering through his entire body abruptly, like a tidal wave. It hit every cell in his body, then bounced rather painfully back through and was reabsorbed into the bracelet. The pain in his wrist intensified, beginning to spread. He glanced up at Sam, horrified. She stared back fearfully. _We need that key...!_

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><p><strong>I'm wondering if I should switch the rating to T? <strong>


	5. A Means To An End

**Minecraft. Yeah. :P **

**I don't own DP, Minecraft, or anything related to either idea. Read and rejoice... 'cuz they'd be a huge mess if I did.**

**Hellbreaker: I don't think he'd think his parents were psychotic... his parents may be slightly out of contact with the world at times, but they really are trying to help the best they can with what little they know. They simply DON'T know... and they see everything through rose-tinted glasses. They would never dream that their son is part ghost, since it's 'impossible'. Even if the evidence speaks otherwise, I think they unconsciously push away the notion that he's Phantom... in an attempt to protect themselves from the realization that they've been hunting him. It's not exactly noble or productive... but I think it's a legitimate thing for people in that situation to do.**

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><p>He held his wrist away from him almost reflexively, as though it would keep the energy from invading his body further. The four teenagers all exchanged glances; no words could be said with the Fentons here, but all four didn't have much to say anyway. <em>What can we do?<em>

Somewhat desperately, Danny's mind flew back to the construction of the bracelet. _Can I take it apart, or something? _He studied it closely.

Apart from the neon green "Fenton" emblazoned across the band, the bracelet was a seamless strip of silver metal, hugging snugly to his arm in a manner that wouldn't have been unpleasant in other circumstances. There were no apparent rivets, welds, screws, or other objects holding it together. The latch was a complex bit of interlocking metal, weaving together automatically when pressed together and latched, the latch being sealed by a slight force field that he knew would require a certain frequency to dispel. The latch, sealed, was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the bracelet.

Danny was broken out of his thoughts by a heavy clap on the back from Jack. "Well, that solves that problem," the big man proclaimed cheerfully. "We'll be able to pull out the Blood Blossoms without any problems, then."

"Our class is already over," Sam interjected uneasily.

"We didn't get to the full thing because of the blossoms," Maddie frowned. "Thus, after everyone else has been through the class, your class will repeat it. You have two weeks."

Jazz and Tucker had two identical horrified expressions. Sam's face was stiff. "I see."

Without another word, she turned toward the door of the lab, grabbing Danny's arm and tugging him forcefully away. The teens trooped silently up the stairs, through the kitchen and living room, then up the other stairs to the bedrooms. Tucker spoke. "So, a rundown of the situation. You currently have a bracelet on that will rip you to pieces within twenty-four hours. We have no way to unlatch it at the moment, and your parents think you should make it a regular part of your wardrobe. If -" he swallowed convulsively - "_after_ you survive two weeks, we have to go back to class and deal with the Blood Blossoms all over again." He paused grimly. "Did I miss anything?"

Danny winced. Hearing it spelled out like that made it seem much more intimidating. His arm twinged; the whole arm was tingling now, like it was asleep. "I don't think so."

Jazz picked up his arm and studied the bracelet. "Can we duplicate the frequency and get it off that way?"

"How?" Tucker sighed. "This isn't a radio signal or any signal like that; it's a sort of compound of that and ectoplasmic signal. Ironic really; they're using a hybrid of human and ghost energies..." He shook his head. "Anyway... the signal can't be replicated, because of the nature of the two energies merging. They had to have made the key and bracelet at the same time in order to sync them. When they said they couldn't make more keys, it was more than just a need to keep them out of ghosts' hands. They _can't _make more keys."

"How do you know all that?" Sam asked in surprise. "You were down there for all of five minutes, and they didn't explain anything."

"I saw the plans for the bracelet on the table, and a pad of notes beside it on the energies." He grinned sheepishly, though the expression faded quickly. There was a brief silence.

"Danny, you okay?" Jazz asked. No one seemed to want to ask this question, as though afraid of what they would hear.

"I'm okay," he answered, keeping his voice calm, though it was the farthest feeling from his mind at the moment as adrenalin sparked in his veins. "We just have to get it off. If the signal can't be replicated, then we have to get the key. Any suggestions?" He wondered briefly what Tucker had meant by 'can't be replicated because of the nature of the two energies merging'... after all, his own half-ghost nature was a product of those same two energies merging... and he wasn't the only halfa, so clearly the effect could be reproduced, right? The thought faded quickly, though, with another pulse of searing energy.

Voices downstairs forestalled any response for a moment. It appeared Jack and Maddie were in the kitchen.

"Jack put the key in his pocket," Jazz stated. "If we can just distract him..."

"Or make him go to sleep," Sam suggested, almost vengefully. "I'm sure you have the Fenton Creep Stick around here somewhere..." She looked around, noticed the stares, and blushed slightly. "Sorry..."

"We'd have to make sure Mom was out of the picture," Danny went on, lips twitching slightly in spite of himself. He did love his parents, but this latest folly of theirs really did make him understand the sentiment behind Sam's half-serious suggestion. In a way, he felt the same. _Don't they see _anything? He sighed mentally. _Ah, the trials of being half ghost in a family of oblivious ghost hunters..._

"She's going shopping later today. Dad will be in the lab." Jazz looked almost relieved for a moment. "So if we can get the key then..."

"Okay, so Mom will be out of the way for a few hours. How do we distract Dad?" Danny leaned forward, grasping at the small stroke of luck in this not-so-lucky day. His hand rubbed absently along his banded arm, trying to rub the tension out of cramping muscles that had forgotten how to relax.

"We could get a basket of fudge," Tucker suggested hopefully.

"I'd say that would be a last-ditch attempt," Sam demurred. "He likes fudge, but we're trying to steal his keys..."

"Well, if you put it that way, let's just 'accidentally' knock into him and steal his keys like any other pickpocket," Jazz rolled her eyes. "The fudge just keeps him from noticing us... fudge up... from inexperience with the whole idea."

Tucker had to smirk. "I like the idea."

"It's too dangerous. We only have one chance. If he notices us trying to take his keys, he'll guard them like a bulldog." Jazz objected, lowered her voice slightly as voices downstairs became slightly louder. Apparently Maddie was leaving for shopping now; earlier than usual. "We're running out of time," she added.

At that moment, Danny doubled over, hissing in surprise. The bracelet seemed to tighten on his wrist, almost pulsing with his blood. Little tendrils of fiery energy sparked abruptly from it, making his body convulse painfully against his will, slamming back against the wall, his legs giving way. Every nerve ending burst into flame with the knock, his sense of touch hyper-aware to an excruciating degree. He felt... well, he felt like he was being pulled apart at the seams. A pained sound escaped from between his clenched teeth, and he concentrated, hard, on controlling himself. _I... can't fall apart now! Aaaagh... _his thoughts fragmented as the bracelet released another wave of burning energy, having finished its reconfiguration and begun its deadly purpose.

Jazz managed to keep her scream down to a half-muffled yelp as she tried to catch him. "Danny!" Sam half-lifted him off the floor, tentatively, as though she expected him to shatter.

There was no response. Danny had no further control of his body beyond the censoring of pained sounds; even now he twitched slightly, arms flailing, face tight and eyes closed.

The other three exchanged panicked glances. Tucker's system kicked into overdrive. "Okay, forget making plans. If we have to, we'll snatch the blasted keys and run." _We don't have time. How fast is that thing working? What if it's like the blood blossoms and its effect doesn't stop when it's removed?_

He shook the frightening thoughts away and stared at Sam and Jazz, waiting for some sign of acknowledgment.

Sam lugged the boy through the doorway into his room, managing to lay him down on the floor. He twitched again, back arching; it was a good thing he wasn't on his bed. "Let's go," she agreed, voice steely. There was an edge of fear in it that he pretended not to notice.

The three of them didn't waste time lingering at the doorway, though none of them wanted to leave Danny alone. "I'll get the fudge," Jazz informed them grimly. "While he's eating that, you walk past him, Tucker, and knock into him. Grab the keys while you're at it. Sam, you ask him about ghosts at the same time Tucker does that... it'll help keep him distracted. Tucker and I will go upstairs and call you up to do homework; that should get you out of listening to stuff about ghosts."

Two pale faces bobbed up and down. Three pairs of feet diverged as they took on their different roles. Three terrified teens steeled themselves behind calm masks and childish curiosity.

They went downstairs. Jazz put on a smile. "Hey, Dad! I found some fudge!" She held up the box, a small one that Maddie kept hidden in case someone other than Jack wanted fudge.

Jack looked up, eyes brightening exponentially. "Jazzerincess! Way to go!" He bounded over, a mountain of bright orange fudge-eating energy, and plucked up the box, eyeing the fudge eagerly.

Tucker and Sam both approached from separate directions, attempting to put on different expressions. Tucker tried to look curious about something on the other side of the lab. He only managed to look vaguely out of it, but Jazz thought it would work. Sam looked around for inspiration and saw an odd-looking device on a table as Tucker walked toward Jack, eyes surreptitiously on the pocket they'd seen him put the keys into. There was a glint of metal visible above the pocket; the key ring.

He bumped into the big man, hooking a finger as delicately as he could through the ring and pulling; wincing as the keys clinked together. For a moment, he thought Jack was going to stop him... the big man paused, brow furrowing; but then Sam spoke - "Hey, Mr. Fenton, what does this do?" and Jack was sidetracked. Tucker breathed a sigh of relief as he brought the key ring around in front of him, studying it and verifying that the important key was, in fact, there. He turned his head slightly and nodded to the other two, who visibly relaxed.

Jazz turned toward the stairs with just a little too much alacrity. "Well, you have the fudge, I'll be going then," she forced out, voice slightly higher than usual. Her footsteps were almost robotic as she forced herself to move slowly, unhurriedly, toward the door.

Tucker followed her closely, clutching the keys in one hand, keeping his body between them and Jack and making sure they didn't clink. His heart was beating wildly, and he was aware of a trembling motion all through his limbs. Nonchalantly, feeling weak, he turned his head as Jazz and he went up the stairs. "Sorry about your curiosity, Sam, but we have to do our homework, remember? There's that project in... English..." He couldn't actually recall if they had a project or not, or what subject it might be.

Sam turned, cutting off Jack's enthusiastic spiel with an expression of relief as she faced away from him. "Oh, yeah," she replied, trying to sound irritated. "Fine."

Jack, behind her, frowned. Much as he wasn't usually the most observant man in the world when it came to people, it wasn't hard to pick up on their strange behavior. He resolved to ask them about it... after they were done with their homework, of course. Returning to his work, his mind didn't stray yet toward the pocket where the keys had once sat.

She followed them upstairs. Once the lab door closed, they couldn't hold themselves back. They fought for the lead as they raced up the stairs, knocking into each other and as often holding each other back as they tried to get up them as fast as possible, not thinking clearly enough to realize that Tucker – the one holding the keys – should really go first.

Bursting through the door into Danny's room, the situation was frightening. Danny's convulsions had gotten worse; hisses and moans of pain – though suppressed to near-silence – were now too common to be missed. Sam hissed too. _The energy... _it could be _seen, _arcing over his skin and dancing along his limbs. Where it brushed him, his body began to look burned.

Tucker slid to a stop beside him and wrestled with the key ring, hastily shuffling through them. "C'mon, c'mon," he muttered, flipping past a house key, a car key, and a key to the lab. Finally the unobtrusive, faintly glowing blue key that was his goal appeared in his hand, and he bent down to touch it to the bracelet. Sam caught Danny's arm, holding it still.

There was a hissing noise, and a click. The bracelet suddenly came loose, unhooking so abruptly that it almost flew off with Danny's wild jerk a moment later. Sam tugged it off, holding it away from Danny. They all held their breaths, watching him.

The convulsions slowed. Danny took a few gasping breaths, opened his eyes; his head turned, and he looked at them. "Th... thanks..." he managed to mumble, as his muscles finally relaxed. His eyes closed once more, body drained of all energy. He lay still.

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><p><strong>I'm not completely happy with this; it reads almost like a narration? The emotion doesn't seem deep enough. Suggestions?<strong>

**And yeah... that stuff about 'two energies merging' is another idea of mine... it'll come up later.**


	6. A Light In The Tunnel

**I don't own Danny Phantom.**

**Disclaimer 2: I have no clue how a violent genetic tug-of-war would affect someone... so don't take it seriously xD**

**Hellbreaker: Yeah, they'll need some easing into the idea. Well, a lot actually. The abrupt ways they found out in the episodes were too sudden.**

**Sorry for the later chapter... I just came back from vacation. It was quite relaxing, and I'm feeling refreshed (although still dealing with jet lag) so the next few days should be productive!**

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><p>As Danny's eyes fluttered shut, Jazz had a mini panic attack. "Danny...!" she yelped, kneeling beside him and shaking him. "Wake up! Stay with us!" His face was too pale, black hair sharply contrasting with it, eyes sunken and shadowed, chest barely rising and falling. The thinner skin around his arm was cracking slightly, and there were several rising bruises around the thinner skin farther away from the arm. He looked ghostly, and not in a good way.<p>

A touch on her arm startled her into whirling. Tucker smiled weakly. "He's fine, Jazz. Or as fine as he can be at the moment." He eyed the unconscious boy worriedly. "Just sleeping. How bad do you think it hurt him? I mean, it was tearing him apart at the genetic level... even if it didn't get very far, that's gotta have a major impact on him."

"He heals fast," Sam interjected, grasping for anything that would help the situation seem less hopeless.

"We're gonna have to hope he can heal from this." Tucker might have said more, but thudding sounds originating from the stairs caught their attention, sending their hearts thudding and adrenaline spiking through their veins. "Oh, crap..."

Jack was coming. He'd noticed the missing keys, and remembered that odd feeling he'd had just before Sam had asked him about the Fenton Phantasmic Fooler (something that created illusions to redirect a ghost's attention): that feeling as Tucker passed him that the keys were sliding out of his pocket somehow. He didn't know why, but somehow it seemed the trio that had come into the basement had done so with the singular intention to steal his keys.

In Danny's room, the three still on their feet stared at each other, trapped. _What do we do? _If Jack noticed the bracelet was missing – and saw the effects it'd had on him – he'd no doubt be suspicious. Then again, he'd probably noticed the keys were missing... and was already suspicious.

Sam glanced around. Her mind had gone into overdrive again, processing things much faster than usual, Jack's footsteps sounding almost in slow motion. _If he'll be suspicious either way, then the best thing we can do is make sure he sees as little as possible. _She stuck the deadly little bracelet in her pocket, then motioned quietly to the other two. The footsteps were almost to the door. "C'mon," she whispered. "We gotta get him outta here."

Tucker and Jazz lugged Danny to the closet and shut him in, while Sam hid the keys in between the mattress and box spring. They all rushed to the middle of the floor, scattering random schoolbooks around themselves, as the door shook with the force of Jack's knocking. "Hey, open up!" Jack called.

Sam and Tucker finished organizing their cover as Jazz went to answer the door. "Hey Dad," she squeaked. "I was just helping the other two with their homework... Danny volunteered to go pick up some food at the Nasty Burger, he isn't here..."

Jack paused in the doorway, brow furrowed. They _sounded _normal enough. But now that he was alarmed enough to pay attention, he observed their pale, terrified faces and jerky, controlled movements. _What is going on? _Maddie would probably know. She was better at reading people – and teenagers – than he was. He sighed. "Jasmine, my keys have gone missing. Do you know where they went?"

"No." She tried to look confused. "Maybe a ghost got out of the Zone and stole them?"

This idea was tempting, and certainly made sense, but he couldn't get her strained expression out of his mind. Still... it didn't seem that this line of questioning was getting anywhere. Maybe Danny would know. "Maybe." He backed through the doorway. _I'll ask Danny when he gets home from the __Nasty Burger. _"Never mind, then." He closed the door and stumped away, mind intent on the couch in the front room. No way Danny could sneak past him then!

Jazz breathed a shaky sigh of relief as the big man's footsteps receded back down the stairs. "Whew."

"Crap," Tucker summed up recent events bluntly. "Now even Jack's suspicious. It's really good that Maddie isn't home... she'd have figured it out already."

"You're telling me," Sam sighed, slumping against the bed for a moment. She stared toward the closet. Danny would be fine there for the moment, it wasn't airtight and he wasn't in convulsions... "Do you think he's all right?"

"Dunno," Tucker mumbled, glancing furtively at the closet door before pulling his eyes quickly away. "We just gotta hope, and in the mean time figure out how we'll keep the Fentons from seeing the missing bracelet... and its aftereffects on Danny..."

Sam sighed in frustration, plucking the bracelet out of her pocket and studying it hard. "I don't really see how it works... Danny was down there while they built it, he might know how it's made and how to deactivate its properties... but I doubt it's a good idea to tinker with it unless we know what we're doing." Memories crossed her mind... broken, glitchy, or failed inventions, all exploding, blasting or otherwise doing something terribly dangerous, usually around Danny. Or maybe that was just the only time she noticed it.

"Mom will be home soon," Jazz observed quietly. "I think we have to wake Danny up, if only to see if he knows how to take the bracelet apart."

Tucker looked up sharply. "Are you crazy? He just got zapped by that bracelet – it did who-knows-what amount of damage to him – and you wanna interfere with whatever healing factor he's managed to hang onto?"

Jazz winced. "No... I just don't see another choice. Do you?" she added, somewhat belligerently.

Tucker's jaw clenched. "I can take a look at it. I got a look at their technical plans down there..."

"Can you trust that you wouldn't turn it into some kind of force field that will effect him without touching him, or something?"

Silence. She nodded grimly, turning without a word toward the closet.

"I can take it somewhere else and try there," he muttered. His voice was weak; he had already given up the fight.

"We don't have time," she whispered, pulling the closet door quietly open and staring at Danny. He looked no different than he had when they'd put him in there; pale, silent and bruised. Steeling herself, she reached out and touched his shoulder, shaking him gently. "Danny?"

There was no response for a long moment, and her heart skipped several beats, lodging in her throat painfully enough to make her eyes water. She swallowed hard, then nearly cried out with relief when the boy twitched, just slightly, turning his head toward her and cracking his eyes open. "Jazz?" His voice sounded hoarse and exhausted, cracking slightly in suppressed pain.

"Do you know how to take the bracelet apart, take out whatever causes that reaction? We can't just take it off you, they'd notice."

"They'll still notice their inventions'll still target me tomorrow," he managed, brow furrowing slightly.

"We'll worry about that later. Your dad is already suspicious about the missing keys." Jazz filled him in quickly on the little encounter. "We'd have more time to plan if you still appeared to have the bracelet on."

He nodded minutely. "Inside... the band. There's a strip of metal... the outside is just decorative, the inside is colored a bit differently and is the real problem. You'll have to slide it out of the bracelet..." his voice gave out, and he let his head fall back.

She nodded with more energy this time. "We'll get it," she assured him. He made no response; unsure if he could hear her, she hovered awkwardly for a moment before turning to go back to the other two.

They'd already heard the ghost-boy's faded words; Tucker had the bracelet in his lap, looking carefully at the inside of it. "I see the strip... what did he mean by 'slide it out'?"

"Is there a slit in the side or something?" Sam suggested, reaching over to turn it slightly. She touched the band, gingerly at first, half expecting a shock, then more confidently. Pressing hard, she attempted to make it slide some direction. It didn't budge.

"No, there's gotta be a catch somewhere that's holding it in," Tucker mumbled absently. "They wouldn't make it slide out so easily. The plans they had... they were pretty simple, except for the latch and the makeup of that middle band. If I can just remember how they slipped that middle band in..." He continued muttering to himself as he fiddled with the band, turning it over and tweaking it here and there.

There was a long silence after his muttering petered out; Sam and Jazz sat mutely, staring at each other without registering what they were seeing, minds in turmoil. There was too much going on... too much bad luck in this day...

_Bad luck, _Sam observed suddenly, with dark humor. _If Johnny escaped the Ghost Zone and is hanging around, I'm going to _kill _him... painfully. _The thought helped her mood a little; she actually smiled a little. It would be nice if solving their problems was always as simple as stuffing a ghost into the Fenton Thermos.

"Aha!"

The exclamation from Tucker brought about a fairly violent response in the other two. Jazz jumped about two feet into the air from a sitting position; Sam jumped too, whirling in midair and landing in a crouched fighting position. Both girls looked somewhat sheepishly at each other as they realized what had happened; then it was forgotten as the tone of voice registered. "You got it out?" Sam demanded.

"Yeah!" Tucker held up a strip of reddish metal, then the separated decorative part of the bracelet made of greenish metal. "The slit was in the latch... the red metal is actually flexible, it's the decorative part that held its shape. So I had to find the slit just behind the latch and bend the red metal to get it out of there. It was hidden pretty well... gotta give them that." He glared distastefully at the reddish stuff. "Whaddya think we do with this?"

"Hide it, for now." Sam plucked it out of his hand with two fingers, dangling it like a poisonous snake. Well, she liked poisonous snakes... a pink dress, then.

"I have a lot of good hiding places in my room, and they'll never think to look there," Jazz volunteered.

"What do you hide there?" Tucker inquired, with a suggestive snicker. The removal of the strip had released a lot of the tension in the room; they had more to do, but at least this dangerous object was out of the picture for now.

She blushed. "Nothing. I just have hiding places, in case I _did _need to hide something..."

"Suuure."

"Moving on!" Jazz rushed. "I'll hide the metal in my room. You get the bracelet's shell back on his wrist; the middle band was only on the inside, so there'll be no sign that it was ever off. And someone has to return Jack's keys..."

Sam winced. "I'll do that part. Tucker is already under suspicion, I think..."

Jazz nodded and pulled the red strip from Sam's grip. "Kay then." She left the room.

Tucker picked up the bracelet shell and the keys and went to the closet. Carefully, he shut the bracelet around Danny's wrist, then latched it. "Hey, Danny? That doesn't hurt, does it?" he asked tentatively, in an undertone. Who knows what energies the bracelet might've absorbed?

The merest thread of a whisper. "No, I'm good."

"Good," he muttered in relief. "Now we just hafta make sure the keys are returned, your signature is hidden for next week, and nothing was permanently damaged..."

Danny moved his head and looked at him, managing to smile. "I'll be all right."

Tucker nodded, moving away. Once out of earshot of the half-conscious boy, he muttered to himself, "That's what scares me. You'll be all right... for how long, and at what cost?"

Sam picked up the keys wordlessly, communicating with her eyes her matching concern for Danny, and turned also to leave the room.

Silence descended over them all.

* * *

><p><strong>I have a couple ways I'm thinking to finish off this story. One way has them figuring out his secret; the other doesn't. Preferences, anyone? <strong>


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